Trial reportThe Journal of bone and joint surgery. American volume2012
Sling compared with plate osteosynthesis for treatment of displaced midshaft clavicular fractures: a randomized clinical trial.
Trial report in The Journal of bone and joint surgery. American volume, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 65 papers, 12 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
65 citing papers in PubMed, 12 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 189 citations in OpenAlex.
- Non-surgical treatment for displaced midshaft clavicle fractures: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2026Pooled it
- Early Versus Delayed Surgery for Midshaft Clavicle Fractures: A Systematic Review.The Iowa orthopaedic journal · 2023Pooled it
- Pooled it
- What Is the Best Evidence for Management of Displaced Midshaft Clavicle Fractures? A Systematic Review and Network Meta-analysis of 22 Randomized Controlled Trials.Clinical orthopaedics and related research · 2020Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Surgical versus conservative interventions for treating fractures of the middle third of the clavicle.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2019Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Operative versus nonoperative treatment for displaced midshaft clavicle fractures: a meta-analysis based on current evidence.Clinics (Sao Paulo, Brazil) · 2015Pooled it
- Surgical Versus Conservative Treatments for Displaced Midshaft Clavicular Fractures: A Systematic Review of Overlapping Meta-Analyses.Medicine · 2015Pooled it
- Predictors associated with nonunion and symptomatic malunion following non-operative treatment of displaced midshaft clavicle fractures--a systematic review of the literature.International orthopaedics · 2014Pooled it
- Operative versus nonoperative treatment of displaced midshaft clavicle fractures in adults: a systematic review.European journal of orthopaedic surgery & traumatology : orthopedie traumatologie · 2014Pooled it
- Overtreatment of displaced midshaft clavicle fractures.Acta orthopaedica · 2016Trial
- Superior versus anteroinferior plating for displaced midshaft clavicle fractures: a systematic review and meta-analysis of union, function, and complications.Clinics in shoulder and elbow · 2026Article
- Replicability of Highly Cited Comparative Studies in Orthopedic Journals.HCA healthcare journal of medicine · 2026Review
- Article
- Review
- Outcomes of conservatively treated midshaft clavicle fractures with butterfly fragment.Joint diseases and related surgery · 2025Article
- Functional Outcomes of Displaced Midshaft Clavicular Fractures Treated with Precontoured Locked Plates: A Prospective Study.F1000Research · 2025Article
- Shoulder disarticulation after clavicle fracture: a case report.Ulusal travma ve acil cerrahi dergisi = Turkish journal of trauma & emergency surgery : TJTES · 2024Article
5 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundFew randomized controlled trials have compared operative with nonoperative treatment of clavicular fractures.
methodsPatients with displaced midshaft clavicular fractures were randomized either to nonoperative treatment with a sling or to operative treatment with a stainless steel 3.5-mm reconstruction plate. Outcome measures were the Constant shoulder score, DASH (Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand) score, pain, fracture-healing, and complications. The null hypothesis was that the Constant and DASH scores would not differ between the groups at the one-year follow-up evaluation.
resultsIn accordance with the power analysis, we included sixty patients in the study; thirty-two were randomized to the nonoperative group and twenty-eight to the operative group. We found no difference in the Constant score (p = 0.75), the DASH score (p = 0.89), or pain (p = 0.98) between the groups at the one-year follow-up evaluation. All fractures in the operative group healed, but six nonunions (24%) occurred in the nonoperative group.
conclusionsOne year after a displaced midshaft clavicular fracture, nonoperative treatment resulted in a higher nonunion rate but similar function and disability compared with operative treatment.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.